Mercedes boss Toto Wolff remains convinced that, with the right single-seater in his hands, Lewis Hamilton will be capable of claiming an eighth world title in his career. Just whether the team can produce such a car remains to be seen.
Lewis Hamilton – seven-time Formula 1 world champion – has not won a race since the 2021 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix, and in 2023 had to be content with third place in the drivers’ championship, 51 points behind runner-up Sergio Perez.
Now 38 (he turns 39 on 07 January), the Mercedes driver has signed a contract extension with his team, for which he will drive until 2025. But after the domination of Max Verstappen and Red Bull over the last two years, many believe that the Briton will no longer be in a position to win an eighth world title over the next few seasons, notably because the regulations will not change until 2026, which could favour Red Bull.
This, coupled with the fact that Mercedes has wasted two years developing a concept which turned out to be a cul-de-sac in terms of ground effect aero, leads to the inevitable conclusion that the new car will be behind the curve.
Russell bullish on Mercedes’s prospects
Hamilton’s team mate, George Russell, is convinced that Mercedes will not make the same mistakes with the W15 and remains bullish on the team’s prospects.
The 2023 season was disappointing for Mercedes, both from the public’s point of view and that of the team itself. Despite a promising end to the 2022 season with a fortuitous win in Brazil, performances failed to live up to expectations, even with the new 2022 W14 car.
Despite a few encouraging moments, including a near win in Austin, the season as a whole was disappointing in terms of success. For the 2023 season, Mercedes kept the ‘zero pod’ concept, but this choice was quickly abandoned due to unsatisfactory results against the competition and Lewis Hamilton demanding the team move on from that idea.
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A radically different 2024 car from 2023
To make up for the delay, Mercedes adopted Red Bull’s concept with the downwash sidepod. The majority of the single-seater has been reworked in preparation for next season.
“There are almost all the components that are being designed,” emphasised Toto Wolff.
“We’ve changed everything because it’s the only way we’ll have a chance with the 2024 W15.”
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The chassis layout, airflow and weight distribution have all been altered, convincing George Russell of Mercedes’ competitiveness in 2024. Although the 2023 season was not encouraging in terms of overall results, the team still finished 2nd in the championship, which offers some continuity.
“Mercedes have been working on the new W15 concept for a long time and there has been so much good feedback on it,” said George Russell.
“I think last year it was all a bit rushed. We didn’t have all the information at our fingertips, so we may have jumped to a few conclusions without carefully considering the consequences. And we learned when the car hit the ground this year that we had taken a step forward in some respects, but it came with a lot of side effects and we hadn’t taken that into consideration.”
2023, a test year?
The 2023 season served as a test bed say Mercedes, allowing them to experiment with different set-ups and components on track. Although the gap to Red Bull was too wide to aim for anything more than 2nd place in the championship, the team made significant progress against the competition throughout the year.
Taking into account the problems encountered, Mercedes should be better prepared with its single-seater for the 2024 season.
“We’ve done a great job of really understanding what we need,” said George Russell.
“We’ve obviously had another 12 months of testing to better understand the car and what brings performance. Last year, we put all our eggs in one basket and this wasn’t the most successful one. But we need to close a huge gap. Red Bull’s domination this year is probably the biggest. So we all have a huge task ahead of us.”
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Wolff has no doubts Hamilton will win an eighth F1 title
Asked in Abu Dhabi during the final race of the 2023 season whether Lewis Hamilton could win an eighth world title in Formula 1 in the coming years, Toto Wolff replied with a frank answer:
“If we can give him a car, then he will fight for a world title. I have no doubt about that.”
“Obviously when you have a Formula 1 car like the one we have now [the 2023 W14], you are not comfortable with it because you have good weekends and sometimes bad weekends.”
“But at the end of the day, every time Lewis had someone in front of him, then the real Lewis comes to life. So, I think we just have to give him that [the opportunity with a good car].” added Wolff.
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Hamilton “stronger than ever” in 2024
Lewis Hamilton, for his part, indicated before the winter break that he would be undergoing advanced training this winter in order to come back in 2024 “stronger than ever” to attempt to win his eighth title and thus become the most successful man in Formula 1.
“At the moment, I’m already thinking about my winter. I’m already preparing my training camp,” said Hamilton on the eve of the Brazilian Grand Prix 2023.
“It’s not just about training, it’s also about recovery, meditation and cleansing the body. I’ll have to go through all these processes and devote time to them. I’ll also have to spend time with my family and recharge my batteries.
“I’ve planned all this so that I can come back next season stronger than ever. With my experience, I think I should be able to do a better job every year. And I’ll be trying to win this championship [his eighth title].”
Quite where the car will be remains to be seen as we look toward winter testing and the first Grand Prix of the season.
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